Canadian Olympic legends not easily forgotten

When Elizabeth Manley entered the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, few analysts thought she had a chance at medalling in front of the home crowd. Expectations were that a finish anywhere near the podium would be considered a success for the figure skater from Trenton, Ont.

Despite a string of high placements in national championships, the blond-bobbed skater had limited success in international competition early in her career, putting up her best performance at the 1982 World Figure Skating Championships with a 13th-place finish.

After recovering from a bout of homesickness that briefly saw her quit the sport, and failing to medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Games, Manley entered Calgary as an underdog, somewhat shaded from the spotlight by a high-profile rivalry between the German and American favourites. The rest is Canadian history.

Manley surprised the home crowd at the Olympic Saddledome, and the thousands more Canadians watching at home, with a brilliant freestyle performance that included five triple jumps, and captured the silver medal. The perky sensation’s success would become a definitive moment in Canadian Olympic history and earn her the title of Canada’s Sweetheart.

From the 1964 gold medal upset by Canada’s four-men bobsled team, to the “Lucky Loonie” legacy of the men’s and women’s victorious hockey teams at Salt Lake City in 2002, Canadians have put together a train of legends not soon forgotten.

And with apologies to Donovan Bailey, Mark Tewksbury, Adam van Koeverden and others who have sprinted, swam and rowed to success in Summer Olympics, the majority of those stories come from the frozen Games.

When the Winter Olympics return to Canadian soil 22 years later, at the 2010 Vancouver Games, a select few will apply to join Ms. Manley’s class as champions to be forever remembered in the hearts and history books of the nation.

- In 1948, at the age of 19, Barbara Ann Scott captured the attention of the international skating world by becoming the first Canadian to win an Olympic skating gold, and was the first Canadian to win gold outside of hockey.

- Nancy Greene, a B.C. native, put on a commanding performance at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, capturing a gold medal in the giant slalom by one of the largest margins in Olympic history to put an end to the European stranglehold in alpine skiing. The same year, she captured a silver in slalom.

- After fracturing his left ankle during a training accident the previous year, Quebec’s Gaétan Boucher put together a commanding performance at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and captured two gold medals and a bronze in distance speed skating. His performance — winning three of the four Canadian medals that year — stood as the most won by a Canadian at a single Olympics until Cindy Klassen’s five-medal haul in 2006.

- Biathlete Myriam Bedard won gold medals in the 15-km and 7.5-km biathlon at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, the second of which — she realized mid-contest — while competing on mismatched skis. At the previous Games, Bedard became the first North American to earn a biathlon medal, taking the bronze.

- Saskatoon-born Catriona LeMay Doan recovered from a fall during the Olympics four years earlier to capture Canada’s first gold medal in women’s long track speed skating at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The gold, in 500-metre speed skating, was complemented by a bronze medal in the 1,000-metre. Her first-place finish, with teammate Susan Auch in second, marked the first time Canadians had finished one-two in an Olympic event. In 2002, she again captured gold in the 500-metre race.

- Ross Rebagliati will forever be remembered in divisive fashion after winning the first ever snowboarding Olympic competition and then being disqualified for having marijuana in his system. Days later, the decision was overturned, his gold medal was reinstated and his name was returned to the record book, placing Canada at the forefront of one of the Winter Olympics’ most popular sports.

- Jamie Salé and David Pelletier quickly became Canada’s sweethearts after becoming figure skating partners in 1998. They wowed the world with an impressive performance at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City but a judging scandal, exposed after the contest, cheated them of gold and incited skating fans and media. The result was Salé and Pelletier being awarded co-gold medals with a Russian duo — and a complete overhaul of how skating competitions are scored.

- A dominant force in short-track speed skating for almost a decade, Chicoutimi, Que., native Marc Gagnon won his first individual gold medal in 2002. He matched it with a gold as anchor of the 5,000-metre relay team just 90 minutes later and added a bronze the same week.

- In 2002, Winnipeg’s Clara Hughes made the transition from bronze medalist cyclist to bronze medalist speed skater when she finished third in the 3,000-metre race in Salt Lake City, making her one of only a few athletes to medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. In 2006, she won a gold in the 5,000-metre race and a silver as part of the team pursuit competition.

- When Brad Gushue’s curling rink won gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, it was the first-ever victory for a Newfoundland and Labrador-based athlete and the first Canadian men’s team to win a gold in the Canadian-dominated sport. Schools and offices in Gushue’s home province shut down for the gold-medal game and ensuing celebration.

- A five-medal performance at the 2006 Olympics made Winnipeg speed skater Cindy Klassen the most decorated Canadian athlete at a single Olympics, and the most decorated overall when added to a bronze won in 2002.

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Canadian Olympic legends not easily forgotten

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